White Ladder

A low-key but full-sounding singer-songwriter album. Very pleasant but verges on monotonous, particularly in the last song. Best song: Babylon

Babylon is good. Maybe one or two other songs that had their moments but overall this was pretty forgettable to me.

I might forgive you one of these days, David

Have you ever wanted a singer/songwriter to set his lyrics over drum loops and randomly pick which audio quality he's going to output his master at? If so, this is the album for you!

Totally and completely acceptable.

beautifull, forgotten album.

Reminds me very much of Paul Simon’s music and phrasing combined with Rodriguez’s voice, song styling, and music - in both good and bad ways. I “liked” two songs. Which is about the same as Simon and Rodriguez. Both of whom I find slightly overrated musically, although Rodriguez’s story is incredibly interesting.

Wave goodbye! Another one on the list that I didn't NEED to hear!

Good album.

Very boring 90s pop.

Hoe is dit zo hoog en zo bekend? We've got Bob Dylan at home: Oersaai

Definitely knew some of the songs it’s nice/ calm 4/5

Not bad. Enjoyed it.

Nice Vibe on this one

Boring album, nothing remarkable.

This was cool but at some point it all started sounding the same to me. A bit generic and bland.

Babylon the clear peak but found it rather plodding in parts

Surprised that i actually knew more from this record. I remember watching the oscar snub, The Girl Next Door, and hearing this This Year's Love for the first time. I was obviously invested in the moment, but the song really stood out to me. Enough that I....errr....found it on the internet later and put it on my iPod. As a songwriter it's pretty hard to find anything to hate on here. Also surprised by how many tracks I actually knew on here. Maybe i've heard a track off Life in Slow mo? So easy to see how he's the inspriation to so many others like him... James Blunt, James Bay...etc Solid 90s record

Great album. Listened to this one a lot in the early 2000’s.

Not outstanding but I enjoyed his voice, no real complaints but I wasn't over the moon about anything on it. Some good lyrics but doesn't raise itself into the territory of really making an impact for me

good album, good songwriting and singing, nice cover of soft cell at the end as well

Idk this was ok but like never gonna listen again. Very middle of the road but slightly less than average I suppose. 4/10 Favorite track - babylon

fuck is this cover art lol

Never heard of this guy but assumed he was British and I was going to be in for a boring time. I was correct. This album is so bland and the basic outros go on for way too long. Almost an hour? No thanks. Don't even bother with this.

Singles are okay but this is one long inoffensive dirge

I hadn’t revisited White Ladder in years. When it first came out, the hype was massive—and honestly, I never quite understood it. I always felt it had some nice moments but was overall a pretty average album. Listening to it again two decades later, my opinion hasn’t really changed. One thing that did stand out this time around was how much “Nightblindness” reminded me of The Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes”—both in mood and melody. There are some genuinely solid tracks here, like “Babylon” and “My Oh My,” but the album suffers from a lack of variety. The songs blend into one another, creating a repetitive, almost monotonous listening experience. Favourite track: “Babylon” – still a great tune. Least favourite: “We’re Not Right” – just feels flat and uninspired. Album artwork: A cool and distinctive cover that holds up well.

There's nothing wrong with this record, but there's nothing about it that makes it stand out to me. As soon as I stopped listening, I could feel my brain discarding it to make room for something else. It's like listening to a commercial - incredibly mid

No idea who this. I like the first track. This was a really good album. Mellow. Good tunes. I’d listen again.

This is weirdly nostalgic for me, even though I don’t particularly love it and doubt I’ll ever listen to it again. It reminds me of late college, popping open a dvd case, a gray rainy day, a shitty couch, a mid market movie starring Julia Bullock and Brad Cruise. Setting aside the nostalgia, there’s not really much to it for me to grab onto, especially past the few singles I really remembered. But it also isn’t offensive, and I don’t find myself in a hurry to turn it off. Kind of the definition of a 3 star album.

Bland, boring, inessential. Not uncatchy, but way too samey to stand out in any way.

Forgettable. Not my thing. I didn’t like it.

Kinda holds up out of nostalgia… but partly doesn’t hold up at all.

Now here's an album I'd never really heard of before. But how could that be?! This thing's sold over 7 million copies worldwide! Well, you want to know why I've never heard of it? It's because I'm American. Yeah, this is one of those sorts of albums that's huge in the UK, especially upon release, but is practically unheard of in the US, and because the book this list is from is UK-based, stuff like this is going to make it on. I can't be too mad though. The British public in 1998 didn't have a terrible taste in music. This album's good. I can see why it's successful. I can also see why others aren't really into it, but that's true for a lot of things that I like. Admittedly, this album is kind of in that early Coldplay territory where it's not the most complex thing on Earth, far from it actually. However, I still think it's a nice listen. The writing does its job at having meaning, though it's not going to make you think real hard either. David Gray's singing is alright. It's kind of like a mix of Bob Dylan, Elton John, and Bono in a way. Maybe I'm crazy for thinking that, I don't know. The sound is nice. It feels a bit more modern than '98, or maybe it doesn't. I'm not sure. It sounds good. The songs are solid. "Babylon" was a huge success for a reason. Even the least popular songs on the album are still solid in my eyes. Overall, White Ladder is an album that I, along with a ton of British people in the late 90s and 2000s, like quite a bit. It's good. Low 4/5.

Great album

Thumbs down

Folktronica is a genre that doesn’t need to exist. This album sounds like the background music I’d be irritated to hear at a Cheesecake Factory. Still, blandly inoffensive. Would never revisit.

I guess nice enough, but not really my thing, and the drums date it badly. Favourite tracks: Please Forgive Me, Sail Away.

This is just too bland for me. Not sure who seeks this out. So uninteresting

please forgive me- 4 babylon- 4 my oh my- 4 we're not right- 3 or 4 nightblindness- 3 silver lining- 3 or 4. it slowly got better but not great white ladder- 4 this years love- 2 or 3 sail away- 3 say hello wave goodbye- 3

The line on the album art is a graph of my enjoyment of this album over time. Favorite track: idk, probably "Babylon"

Album 767 of 1089 David Gray - White Ladder (1998) Rating : 3.5 / 5 Nice blend of folk, rock & electronic. Minimalist and low key production adds to the atmosphere of the album and lets the lyrics shine. A bit melancholic.

Zzzzz

Please Forgive Me Babylon My Oh My We're Not Right Night blindness Silver Lining White Ladder This Year's Love Sail Away Say Hello, Wave

It may even have clever lyrics or a little, but sonically it didn't touch me. I found it quite weak actually, without soul.

Very simple, but in a good way. Wouldn't seek it out again, probably, but I'd say I enjoyed most of what I was listening to.

Really interesting mix of electronic, pop, and folk music, but it's singer-songwriter all the way through. Very unique sound and lots of catchy choruses. Great variety of sound too. I honestly have no complaints.

Very nice, easy rock, good lyrics... just finished it and for the life of me can't remember a single tune.

Too generic, and something about his voice is off for me. I didn't like it.

I was actually fond of this album - very tight album.

Good album, great album cover. The music feels a bit derivative of 60s folk rock, but nothing to hate here.

This album rocks.

Muzika koja priziva kišu (ne na dobar način). Muzika koje se ne sjećaš dok traje. Muzika koja nema nikakvog efekta koliko je sumorna.

Adult contemporary that takes occasional view from electronic music. It's not that the album is bad, it's just a little lackluster. I don't think it needs to be on this list, but it is an enjoyable listen.

O Ines the singles but didnt expect this tupe of music, crear surprise.

So boring, so lifeless, so just bleh.

Another desert island album for me, a foundation album for my wife and I before we got married. Beautiful songs

Great album with a deceptively good amount of hits.

Boring and completely forgettable adult contemporary schlock.

7/10

Meh

That was pretty pleasant.

Not much distinction between songs. Only on here cause of “Babylon”, which is just an okay song. 2/5 Won’t listen again

Didn't know that I already knew him but the first song immediately reminded me that I know him from scrubs :D Great Album. Was listening while driving on the highway and it was a very relaxing ride!

A few elements I liked on this but it was nothing more than background music mostly. I didn't hate it but I don't think I'll be back. 4/10

Enjoyed this quite a bit, especially Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, which is a great closer.

Another one of those classic you don't realize you've heard many times. A nice mix of singing with electronic stuff.

a unique sounding album that blends electronic with acoustic. this music is the kind of stuff ed sheeran wishes he could write, apologies to sheeran. production value is super clean. i absolutely love the meaningful, and yet minimalist energy that consistently plays throughout. at first i didn't get into it too much, but as the album continued eventually i was immersed with the sound. it's emotional in all the right ways.

6/10 - kinda boring but not bad. Part of it sounds like beginning of a van Morrison song

It was fine

Enjoyed.

What a very pleasant record. Hadn't heard of this artist nor this album before but this was a nice, easy-listening surprise. Very cool, wavy vibes and just an enjoyable record to listen to.

This album is a total vibe for me. I listened to it a ton when it came out. Lots of nostalgia built into this. I think these are great songs, and it should probably be 3.5 stars, but I’ll bump it a half star for the nostalgia.

Meh

Solid album, poignant lyrics, some really great songs. Hadn't ever listened all the way through this album but it really enjoyed it.

Yes, agreed that this is a little bland. But it was huge in the nineties, and there are several pretty catchy songs on here. It's perfectly listenable, even if it doesn't set your heart racing.

I guess that some of these songs were among the first “hits” I ever properly clocked. Songs like “Babylon” and “This year’s love” were, at the turn of the millennium, absolutely massive. They kicked off a rude run of form for the perma-troubled troubadour, one that hasn’t really ever concluded (what is a Benson Boone if not, ultimately, just a sexier shade of Gray?). And yet the story of White Ladder – a self-produced effort by a young artist that didn’t much bother listeners first time around, but found a global audience (including, at one point, 1 in 4 Irish households) upon rerelease 18 months later – is, for better or worse, more interesting than the record itself. Take the hits away – songs which themselves excel at giving precious little more away than one or two charming melodies – and you’ve not a whole lot to shout about. I struggle to believe this wasn’t always drab; tales of heartache delivered by a particularly heavy raincloud. And it strikes me that to happen upon White Ladder, you first need to subtract something (The Smiths without the energy; Magnetic Fields without the magnetism; U2 without the spine). None of that is necessarily criticism, of course. Certainly, the sparseness of this album creates space for some punishingly bleak atmospherics. But it is a shame that one of the defining albums of that time feels like it’s lacking much by way of definition.

Easy listening, men med lite dåligt tuggmotstånd. Stark trea.

grocery store music

1/2

Meh.

Excellent. I know it well.

This record gets rating whiplash award. For context, my scale is: 1. Was not able to force myself to listen all the way through. 2. Listened through, but did not enjoy 3. Enjoyed, but feel no need to revisit 4. Listened again for pleasure. (Sometimes I also listen again if I'm not sure how to rate or just had it on as background music). 5. Downloaded for future listening. Doesn't mean it's a masterpiece, because that's hard to know on first impression; there's a lot of variation within this category. In the morning, I listened to this for the first time. Thought it would be a 2. Just nothing that caught my attention, and not even great as background music. In the afternoon, exhausted, I gave it a second try. Instantly: wow that's the vibe. Highly recommend listening at the end of a long day, and only then.

One of the craziest last grasps in history. David Gray had one more album to make it big and holy hell did this deliver. I think I read 2/3rd of British households owned this album, it was that big at the time. And not for no reason either, this album is all bangers, it's genuinely insane how good every song is

I quite liked David Gray at the time and bought a few of his CD’s including this one. His songs are very melodic which I like. Solo male troubadours were very much a thing. Whilst such music was very hip back then it does sound too cosy and MOR today. Exception to that is Damien Rice who does still manage to pull off meaningful new exciting music. Haven’t heard much of David Gray recently but I’m sure he must be about. That is unless his head fell off with all the nodding he did whilst singing. 3/5 28/3/25

Never heard of him. Could have stayed that way…

I’ve always liked this album more than I should. A friend once described it as an album you and your mom can connect over liking. Debuting in 1998, it seems like it paved the way for bands like Coldplay. There are a few tracks on here that shake off the 1990s drum textures and maintain some modern relevance, “Say Hello and Wave Goodbye” and “This Year’s Love” for example. I hate that this is hard to hate… but it is.

custom_rating:3

absolute classic

This was pleasant! I enjoyed the instrumentals and the vocal work was great! 'Sail Away' was my fave.

ngl bruh, jos käyttäisin nyt 12000 tuntia musiikin opetteluun ja produktion tuottamiseen ja tekisin albumin niin luultavasti kuulostaisi tältä ja hävettää.. tulisi niin kohteliaisuuksia niin kohteliaisuuksia mutta sisimmässä.. sisimissiä kaikki miettii: "this shit sounds like david gray".... hävettää... toki en saisi samoja kuuntelukertoja, paska marketointi en jaksais sanoisin vaan love the music.. no marketing just music ja semmoista kommenttia tulisi vastaan että mitä vittua.. sitten loppuu julkaiseminen kokonaan kun vituttaa populaarimusiikki on kaikki mitä julkaistaan ja muut kuuntelee määritelmä on siinä vittu sellasta tee: omaan kuuntelua varten vaan only music, only music no publish... no shit publish... tghis years locvw

Great music for making a jigsaw puzzle

Now this I like. David Gray burst onto the wider scene with this debut effort, showcasing a very talented singer-songwriter. Most famous for Babylon, Please Forgive Me and This Year's Love, it's My Oh My that has stayed in my brain with the most effect, if I were to choose a word for it, I would say haunting. Excellent effort all round from the lad, recommended!

Oof. Not for me. I feel like I’m too nice on here so this will be my first 1. His voice is just sorta annoying? The weird beats with acoustic whining, dude, I dunno.

Nice but mid. Nothing really stood out to me, besides what I assume is theremin on We’re Not Right. Nightblindness was probably the track I liked most. But I think I’ve forgotten this entire album already.

Very pretty, melodic easy listening. And how good is Babylon. A strong 3.8.

don’t care

This reminds me of music that would play dramatically in a bad alternative 2011 movie. Would listen again if I wanted to ruin my day.

This is the kind of music that when it comes on shuffle I immediately skip it, but if I’m not paying attention at the start I find myself not disliking it when it gets my attention attention half way thru the song Generic... but not bad? 2.5 -> 3

The rest of the album was just okay but it gets a 4 because high school me is still obsessed with This Years Love

I didn't notice the music was playing

This album/ songs were massively overplayed back when it came out and for the most part I enjoyed it then and after a break of not listening to it for 27 years! I quite enjoyed it again. Maybe in another 27 years I’ll listen to it again… if I remember!

Cheer up mate.

Not a terrible album. Nothing to really write home about on this one. Should everyone hear it before they die? Maybe. 2.5/5 = 3 on this scale.

Honestly I had a good time listening. I could see myself relistening to most of album multiple times. I did phase out in the middle for a few songs, but I thought it was all solid stuff, not too crazy or anything tho.

Starts great, ends great, but there’s a really long stretch there in the middle where everything was just a tad bit arduous to listen to.

Tomorrow will be the last album I'll review for quite a while. It turns out that my dad has died today. I'm playing "Nightswimming" by REM, his favourite song. "White Ladder" is pretty good for a 90s pop album. It opens with a very strong track. 3 stars for "White Ladder".

Acoustic pseudo break beat Britt emo pop rock. Yawn if you hadn’t heard it maybe it would matter. However, living through this I have no tolerance for it maybe you like his voice?

Awful

This album didn’t age well for me. I remember loving it when it came out, but listening to it again it was so meh I really don’t have any other words for it and so I won’t say any other words

All the songs sounded the same.

He apparently made the best-selling album ever in Ireland (this one, White Ladder), a country I once lived in, but David Gray has mostly stayed off my radar. I think my uncle recommended him last summer, so he’s not a complete unknown here. 🍁 It’s certainly easy on my ears, so I can see how it was well-received. The synths n beats show up in various ways, but at the core there is a pretty no-frills folk record. Gray sees his influence in later songwriters like Ed Sheeran and George Ezra; I buy it. I might as well copy straight from the 1001 book, since I can't explain why I like this so much yet have been harsher on other commercial, middle-of-the-road pop as of late: "...White Ladder could break your heart while putting a smile on your face and a spring in your step." -- Andy Robbins Also, closing with a Soft Cell cover is remarkable since both the songs I associate with them- “Tainted Love” and “Where Did Our Love Go”- are covers. Just as they alchemized 60s soul to camp 80s synthpop, Gray takes the synth away and turns it into a campfire singalong. And it works! HL: "Please Forgive Me", "Babylon", "Sail Away", "We're Not Right", title track March 8, 2025

Man, very surprised to see this on here. I kind of get why a couple of the tracks were popular to the point of ubiquity at one point in time, but it's all so dreary, monotone and mid, and a very unlikely choice. 1.5

while playing this album, christina was quietly singing along to one of the songs. i was surprised that she knew the lyrics to more than just the Babylon song and commented on it. she said, “oh, no, i was still singing the words to Babylon.” i think that’s a pretty good review of this album.

Pro-tip: if you're a pale imitation of Van Morrison, don't end your album with an interpolation of his best song, it just reminds us all how much worse you are than him. This is a perfect album for when tap water is too spicy - perfectly crafted and perfectly dull totally disposable slow sad guy acoustic pop. There's a place for this kind of music in the world wherever mellow inoffensive sound is necessary - waiting rooms, fast casual sandwich chains, airport gift shops, overwrought scenes in boring movies. It's music you hear constantly but only involuntarily.

There was so much potential here, with hiw talented this guy clearly is, and his voice has so much passion end emotion in it, as well as the fact that he is clearly a fantastic songwriter. But the absolutely awful and sloppy production for pretty much the entire album drags it down so much. It sounds like it was all recorded and mixed in a day with technology from the 1700s.

Interesting but nothing special.

Couple of good songs, but for the most part pretty dull

I remember seeing this album everywhere back in the early 2000s, but nothing ever really made me want to listen to it at the time. Now that I’ve finally checked it out, I wish I had heard it back then—because it would have been right up my alley. At its core, it’s a singer-songwriter album, but with a subtle backdrop of soft electronic beats, synths, and basslines, layered with acoustic guitars on top. These days, this style is called folktronica, but back in the late ’90s and early 2000s, that term didn’t even exist. In that way, this album was ahead of its time. Also, most people didn’t hear it until 2000, when it was reissued and commercially released—despite originally being self-released in 1998. Another cool aspect is that it was home-recorded, giving it a polished sound while still feeling organic and natural.

quite boring, especially the slower songs. I like the bits of electronic instruments towards the start but I guess he stopped using them or something idk. Its fine, quite average. Favourite songs: Babylon, nightblindness and the long last one kinda. Overall around 5/10

8.5/10

Hasn’t aged well - a few decent tracks, but nothing special.

Pretty good 4 of them I already knew but hadn't listened to the rest. 3.5

Meh

I surprisingly read that this is the best selling album of all time in Ireland, and it also sold more than 3 million copies in the UK which makes it a Top 30 selling album in this century, yet I have never heard any of these songs before (though I don't live in those countries). It was a pleasant listen - this album contains well crafted and nicely recorded (in a home studio) collection of folktronica songs. This kind of music paved the way later to such artists as Ed Sheeran or James Blunt. It's not usually he music I listen to but this is a good album albeit a bit generic.

Coupla decent songs on this album but not really my thing.

It didn’t do much for me at the time. Still doesn’t.

Love me some David Gray. White Ladder was listened to on repeat in high school.

It's a truism that period pieces sell a lot of records. This one sold mucho and periodized a piece. The more Gray belts, the more generic the music; the more powerful, the more insignificant. He can sing, but he can't be for real: 'Seems these days I don't feel anything / 'Less it cuts me right to the bone.' This isn't soul-baring, it's barely soulful - and proof that if it's big in England, it may be a big flop elsewhere. To make it worse, the songs are twice the length they ought to be. 'I put my heart in your hand' - and I've given it right back. No thanks!

This is not a record I would usually listen to but it was a pleasant surprise. I do remember the lead single, Babylon. The album features a cool mix of genres that is very much of it's time, but not dated. Reading up on it a bit, I was impressed that David Gray recorded it all at his flat. It sounds fantastic.

proto lorde music

Surprisingly good..

Class

The opening track and Babylon are vaguely familiar, I think I remember hearing it when I was really young. I wonder if my mum used to play this in the car. The chorus on the latter is decent A lot of elements sound incredibly dated, like the drum machines. Strip it back and it's a pretty basic singer-songwriter album, as it is, it's a fairly dated 90s poppy rock album. I actually thought it did get a bit better in the second half, Silver Lining and White Ladder stood out to me. I see this was quite a big hit when it came out, but it's been largely forgotten so I don't know if it's really worthy of being on the list. It's just fine. Much if it comes across as sad background music that plays during the Misunderstanding in a romcom 2.5 Highlights: Babylon, Silver Lining

This was a good album

How does bland slop like this become popular? I guess I could extend this question to Ed Sheeran.

Nice easy listening.

This is yet another multi-million selling album from around the turn of the millennium that seems to have completely passed me by for some reason. It opens with an unusual combination of fairly upbeat dance adjacent electronica with a nasal sounding singer-songwriter (one review likened him to Bob Dylan!). It took me a while to twig that I’d heard him doing guest vocals on an Orbital album from a few years later. Mostly harmless.

It started OK with an electronica adjacent track. Well, it could have been better without the singer. And then it's generic boring pop music. I can't believe this made it to this list. THe guy is claiming that he paved the way for this kind of yawning music in the following years, which is another good reason to loathe this record.

Arrancamos el 2025 laboral y volvemos al reto de la mano, como no podía ser, de un artista desconocido. Voz rara, nasal, muy de los 90s: me recuerda a Billy Corgan. Se lo siente como dolido, expresivo con sus notas. Va bien como música de fondo para escribir, con un clima fresco y mates. Una linda sorpresa para comenzar con el reto. Hasta mañana.

I have this album ingrained in my soul, but it's actually not my favorite DG album. Sell, Sell, Sell rips and was his last contract album before being dumped. He produced White Ladder on his own (which explains the drum machines, etc, which is not his usual production sound) and I imagine he almost gave up before landing an opening tour with DMB and getting the album to Dave's label where Babylon exploded. I also think A New Day at Midnight is better overall, but this dude can write songs. I saw him live once and it was awesome. I'm not sure if Sell is on this list, but if you are reading this--do yourself a favor and listen to it. This album shouldn't have worked, but every song is solid. I would go 4.5, but marking down for it not being his best IMO.

chilling and wibing hieman hmmm melankolinen vika biisi hyvä cover kai...

Gonna be honest, don't really see why this album belongs on this list. It feels incredibly derivative and just bored me to tears. Reading on Wikipedia, it says it's pretty influtial to artists like James Blunt, Ed Sheeran, etc., but I wouldn't put any of them on this list either, so I don't really get it. Maybe it's a situation of the "original" feeling passe because everyone today does it now, but like I said, it feels incredibly derivative (Singing is like Bob Dylan, but not in a good way, a lot of the songs sound like folk music I've heard that was made prior to this album). Yeah, just a very forgettable, boring album to me.

Great album

I’d say it’s atmospheric rather than background music, you can really visual the music- my only problem is that it gets repetitive. Love the first half!

2.5/5

I enjoyed it enough on my bus ride to work that I listen to it again on the bus ride home; however do not remember anything from the album specifically. I'll keep it on my phone for a while and see if any of the tunes really catch my interest, but at this point it's just Pleasant background music to do Wordle to.

Babylon is a jam

Decent and well-crafted pop now of a certain age, good enough to try out the earlier records, but not with massive amounts of optimism. And it's awfully tame and pretty close to lame, too. Voice is iffy and songwriting okay; Dylan and Van comparisons are ludicrous – DG would have needed to have delivered 6x or 8x more quality than the one song that caught. And one remembers the record – which one felt compelled to buy or perhaps one was given by another – better than one might have thought, one not having listened to it for at least one decade and perhaps one-and-one-half. Does DG feel cursed for being a one-hit wonder? One wonders. One saw him, you know, and perhaps more than once, and one struggled to picture as him anything but, to say nothing of anything more, as one recalls. One also remembers one's wife liking the one song. Not that the other songs aren't perfectly pleasant in their way, though certainly their non-singular (one might say) yet certainly (again) decently done and delivered; yet one – like everyone else – only knows the one, which doesn't on its own terms quite rise to the level of "One" by U2 or "The One I Love," songs against which it was roughly competing across radio formats (which were beginning to die their slow deaths right about this time), though not in the rockier or anthemic categories. Slight AMSR (in the shaky effect on top of the gentle drum track) going on here, too, in the deeply pleasing-to-the-point-of-soothing feel of the one song, whose name will go unmentioned just for, you know, fun, in one's twisted sense of, you know, fun. One believes the karmic formula favored Mr. Gray here, but he was no Nick Lowe (gratuitously unrepresented in this list), maybe not even Paul Brady (as writer) or Paul Young (as singer) so; net-net, cursed as he is to brief reunion and do-you-remember tours on the downmarket, he should be thankful for what he got. Just because it sold millions doesn't mean it's not mediocre.

Great songs

A defining sound that nobody else can match. He captures melancholy with basic rhythms that stick in your head for days. This album is more than just the singles.

Easy listening

Nothing special

All good album, a few lovely songs! Babylon is so good

Started strong and I thought it was going to be great but was middling imo. Babylon was great and the clear standout for me, I like the musical concept of acoustic/electronica but wouldn't say it was an amazing album

Some really really nice songs in there.

Pleasant music and tasteful use of electronics in a folky context when its on, but outside of that? It's just kinda there, I feel like it worked better as wallpaper than really something I'm invested in.

I've never heard of David Gray or this album before, but being Folktronica, I think there's a good chance that I'll enjoy this album. What better way to spend a Friday than going back to the late nineties? I really enjoyed the first song, "Please Forgive Me." The piano playing was great, and the rapid but soft percussion really enhanced the sound. The song only got better as it went on, as the base and strings were added, and then later on when it added some electronica elements. David Gray's singing was great too. I thought I didn't know any songs on this album, but it turns out that I knew "Babylon." I hadn't heard "Babylon" in probably over twenty years, but it had a great sound that really took me back to the late nineties, when adult contemporary was still a genre on the radio. I really enjoyed the first two songs, and it gave me a lot of hope that I'd wind up loving this album. However, after those first two songs, I didn't enjoy the album as much until the "This Year's Love," which I also recognized. I loved the vocals and the lyrics, and the piano and string arrangements were excellent. "Sail Away" was really good too; just like the other songs on this album that I enjoyed, "Sail Away" had some piano playing that I really enjoyed, and the vocals were really good too. Even though there were some songs on this album that I really enjoyed, the album as a whole was just alright. The sound was nice, and the vocals were really good, but a lot of the songs dragged on for a long time, reducing them to just pleasant background music. After listening to White Ladder, I think David Gray is a talented artist, but I probably wouldn't listen to another whole album of his; I'd opt to cherry pick through his songs instead.

First 3,5/5 Again? 3,5/5

Nothingburger of an album. It's good, but it's not great. I don't really see why I Must listen to this. It's like they put John Mayer on stage before he knew how to do anything cool.

This is probably the kind of thing that was big in the UK but never made much of an impact in the US. Needless to say I expect to see a David Gray biopic where he is a CGI moose in the next couple of years. Like music for a dentist’s office. I continue to remind myself that boring stuff like this made the list over the Blue Album, Madvillainy, The Black Parade, Discovery, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, etc.

This sounds like the soundtrack of any CW-esque teen drama show.

It's certainly pleasant enough to listen to but it rarely goes above "inoffensive" for me. The parts that introduce more electronic elements stand out a bit.

Loved this album for a long time. It’s a Friday night record. Don’t know why. Anyway, it’s another of those records that sounds like the period it came from and probably influenced the soft club aesthetic more than most.

Great little album, don’t know how I hadn’t Hurd of it. Really enjoyed it.

Babylon is a great single but the rest are quite dull. In fact I can honestly say in the 90’s I went to see him and it’s the only gig I have ever walked out of. Boring

meh

A little better than expected, but not by much. The mixing feels pretty bad at some moments.

commercial nonsense

Kinda generic but I still enjoyed it. Favorite track: This Year's Love

Bland, hey.

Coffee shop background music. Nothing super memorable or impactful, but there were at least 2 songs on here that I didn't realize we're David Gray. One of those albums that I know my dad is going to rate higher than I'm rating it.

This, is pretty dull. Not abrasive, just slow and uninteresting.

Eigentlich sind die Songs ganz in Ordnung, aber sie klingen einfach alle gleich.

Yikes. So this is how the '90s died.

it's just ok 2/5

the singer gives a bob dylan vibe.. Favorite track: babylon other picks: this year's love, white ladder

The audio quality of this album is a bit distracting. All of the instruments sound fine production-wise except the singing, which is almost painfully crackly. Don't get me wrong – Gray's voice is fine, a bit Dylanesque – but something about the vocal mixing/production makes it sound like it was recorded in the mid-40s. Once you notice it, you can't ignore it. It's a shame, really, because the acoustic instrumentation backing his voice is fairly strong and a breath of fresh air in the midst of heavily electronic (and often soulless) R&B/rap that dominated 90s charts. I'm not someone who tends to pay heed to the lyrics unless they're egregiously bad, so I can't speak to Gray's lyricism, so his voice is all I have to go on. And it's best to try to tune out his voice. Now for the compositions: they're fine. Passable. One sign of good songwriting I like to look for is if different parts of the same song are sonically distinguishable (disregarding lyrical changes, e.g. different verses). Changes in key, texture/instrumentation, and dynamics (loudness) are all examples of this. Think Stairway to Heaven, A Day in the Life, Good Vibrations, Bohemian Rhapsody... all the classic greats, you know? Some songs do this much better than others. I find that, while Gray's style is mostly pleasant to the ear, this intra-song variation is absent in most tracks. Say Hello, Wave Goodbye is one of the better tracks for this reason, slowly introducing more intense guitars and percussion as the mood transitions from mournful to hopeful. This Year's Love is also notable for (perhaps rebelliously) not using an acoustic guitar. The cinematic strings go well with simple piano chords. All that being said: there's nothing revolutionary about the music. White Ladder doesn't belong on this list. I like to call this album art "Blurry Tommy". 2/5 Key tracks: My Oh My, Say Hello Wave Goodbye

This must have never made it to the States. I have no recollection of this at all. My SO says she knew the hit(s) but I literally didn't recognize anything. This wasn't good though. In fact, this is the white bread of music. Nothing really going on and the only people who would be interested don't know any better.

Didn’t expect this to be good but I really enjoyed it

Please forgive me for the exposure of my guilty pleasures. May be bland and boring but I love David Gray. Forgive me, Babylon and years love highlights

This one I will forget about Will I listen to again: 0%

I find this album to really creative and effective. I like almost all the tracks quite a bit and I think it's aged well. The songs are accessible with some unique and creative decisions that give the album an intimate sound. As a package I think that this is very good. Between a 4 and 5 for me since I think it does it's job very well.

Why is this on the list lol? Home cooking again. Music for a breakup/romance scene or outro credits to some obscure TV show/movie.

This is insultingly bland. Music for department stores. The first track actually started ok; not my thing but a decent groove. It all goes downhill from there. This gets an extra star for not being actually bad, it is just the absolute zenith of boring nothing music.

Treads the line of country music and im not a fan

I remember staying at my cousins student flat after a night out. He put this on to help him get to sleep. It didn't work for me. It was too irritating.

I could not stop thinking about James Blunt and for that I will never forgive him.

Please don't. This is way too corny and not what I enjoy at all. How could this get on the list? Fine, one must say it's well-produced to some extent, and the melody is...okay? I like the opening track, "Please Forgive Me." It's classic folk/folk rock, but other than that, I have to say this album lacks creativity and is actually quite dull. The vocals are also not that much of an enjoyment. A 2 is the best I can give to this kind of music. A 1.5/5, if you want me to be precise. It is tolerable, but honestly? Boring as these singer's life.

3.3 1x hadn't heard this in a while

2.5

guy pretending to be Bob Dylan with a shitty country voice and beats playing in the background

I guess “Babylon” is a little nostalgic considering the gazillion hours of radio air time it had .. but the rest is decidedly mid.

Doesn't hold its form all the way through, but man are there good songs on here.

Dido, but male. Music, but dull. Emotional, but barely. It's hard to understand why this was so popular, other than the need for mums to have something to listen to when they feel sad but can't have wine. Bland and inoffensive, other than in its blandness. Even the decent songs get dragged down by all the beige

This is a pretty good album. It is not typically the music I listen to. It is a little on the poppy side for me but I enjoyed it. Favorite track, "Sail Away" 3.5 stars.

First track didn't need vocals. Whrn he started singing I got sad. Half of this album doesnt need to exuisyt.

Average album. Some hits from when I was a teen that bring back memories but nothing outstanding

The top of this album is very good, but it slogs on and gets boring fast

Beige horrible shit

2.5

When I started this project of listening to the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, my partner said she reckons White Ladder by David Gray would be on it. My response was a big, “Yeah riight!” Yet here we are. I was surprised by how many tracks felt familiar here, as I thought I only knew Babylon. If you know that, you know exactly what to expect from the rest of the album. It’s nice, it’s chill and cosy, but it’s not really something I’d consider to be amazing. I’m just a random dingus online though, so it’s interesting to read what others take from this record!

booooooring. Early 2000 vibes but not in a good way.

Such a warm comforting hug of an album. I love the fact that this flopped on release and grew organically based on people discovering it rather than a marketing budget. People actually liked this organically rather than it being cool, and j think a lot of the reviews here miss this point. Sure its not breaking new ground, but there are some serious songs on here and i lobed revisiting it.

pleasant on the ears. David Gray's mellow guitar strumming and agreeable singing voice pair pretty nicely with this electronically tinged folk rock sound. I guess I just felt like the overall presentation was too plain for my taste. the loop-based composition process for some of these songs robs them of their momentum, since they often don't feel like they're building towards much. again, the sounds being presented are nice ones, but I find them a little too easy to tune out. this album's success surely paved the way for later "sad sack with an acoustic guitar" guys that would follow in the 21st century, but I think I'd rather stick with Bon Iver, The Tallest Man on Earth, and other such artists that bring a more distinct approach to that archetype. decent 5/10.

Sweet

Nice enough

Slow and kinda sad. Good sounding overall

Everything sounds vaguely familiar here. I can’t tell if he’s a “musicians’ musician” that has incredible influence etc or if it’s just the late 90s. It’s not at all bad, it’s not amazing, it just *is*. I don’t think I’d add any songs to my regular rotation but I somewhat enjoy most of it.

‘We’re Not Right’ and ‘This Year’s Love’ stood out initially. And ‘Sail Away’. Oh, and a lovely Soft Cell cover that I listened to like four times in a row. Great closer.

I was sick with a stomach bug while listening to this, so everything feels a bit hazy. That said, I like this kind of music, and the closer was beautiful. 3.5 stars.

This album is full of memories as I listened to it quite a bit the year I fell in love during a very overall tumultuous and wild time. Lots of memories in there. Still like it since most of the memories are so good.

I discovered this album in 2003 when I got into Elbow's Cast of Thousands. About this same time I was overly exposed to Damien Rice's 'O' around that same time which I quickly grew tired of, but White Ladder and Cast of Thousands were on repeat for a few weeks... That was 20+ years ago. Listening to White Ladder again today was really nice. I can picture myself in my apartment in Santa Monica, drinking coffee in the morning with a warm ocean breeze and very little adulting, no worries, and very little cares. Ahhhh... Based on the reviews, it seems my love for this album is something I should keep secret. Guilty pleasure... perhaps. But such an easy, effortless and calming album to listen to...

I like the combo of electronic drum beats with the chill piano and guitar. But right as I started listening to the album, I read pretentious-ass’s review. And he reminded me of Damien Rice’s “O,” which came out a bit after this but filled a similar space and vibe. While pretentious-ass prefers David Gray, I much prefer Rice. I think “O” is an incredible album (although man is it earnest), and so I listened to it again, and now I’ve forgotten all about “Babylon.” (Which is for the best - I think Gray’s break-out hit might be my least favorite on the record. I much prefer “This Year’s Love.” But the songs that really stick with me are Rice’s “Volcano,” “The Blower’s Daughter,” and “Cannonball.” Not a lot of albums with three songs that hit like that back-to-back-to-back.)

When this album was released, it was exactly what my soul needed. I discovered it along with a very close group of friends that were connecting on many levels. It opened my mind, it opened my heart. The lyrics send a simple, but universal message that we are not alone in this world and that love is a powerful force in the universe. The music is catchy and singable - I was pleased on this listening that it didn't sound dated to my ear. I won't call it a guilty pleasure, because I don't feel any guilt in loving this music and the part it played in my awakening as an adult.

It's a relaxing and chill album for a gray day.

My friend Jenn was obsessed with that Babylon song and put it on a mixed tape or cd or whatever it was that year and now it always makes me think of her even though I always thought it was ok. So. Like the whole album then.

This album borders with b being offensively unoffensive. The lyrics are repetitive and I don’t like his vocal affectations. It melts seamlessly into the background when I’m not paying attention. Is that good or bad?

Liked the single, the rest not as much

Bad. Idc

Generic

This reminded me of a cross between Oasis and James Blunt. When I heard Babylon, I thought, OK I know who this is now, but have not heard any of his other songs that I know of. I felt like the album was cohesive, but almost too similar across the songs. Lyrically, I thoroughly enjoyed and would listen again.

Damn, great run of albums. This one was so groovy and ethereal, really got me in the 90s mood.

The music was okay, but I'm not sure I like his voice

Excellent….

I really enjoyed this. Never heard of David Gray before. Very much a pre-cursor to the stylings of James Blunt and Ed Sheeran.

Remember not liking David Gray and actively avoided this album but this was exceptional.

I like this album. I think David Gray has a very soulful voice. five stars and it's going into my Tidal library.

an odd tour of the fallow music landscape of 1998. 1.5

this album feels like a beige doctors waiting room

totally fine. 2.5

"This Year's Love" was a jumpscare of recognition for reasons I don't understand. The rest felt like daydreaming except my daydream was me working in a 90's grey cubicle with yellowing electronics and dim fluorescent lighting.

I immediately fell in love with Please Forgive Me. Then it gets even better with Babylon. The lyrics are complex and interesting but not too convoluted. His voice has interesting texture to it, makes his longing seem so real. I had never heard him before, I am completely dig it.

Boring.

First few songs I liked, after My Oh My the rest of it felt bland and so uninspired. There's something specially annoying the way this guy repeats his lyrics incessantly, it's very apparent on Sail Away. I really wanted to give this a 3 but there is no shot after listening to all of that. Top 3 Favorites: Please Forgive Me, Babylon, and Nightblindness Top 3 Worst: We're Not Right, This Year's Love, and Sail Away 2.50/5

Not a bad album. Paved the way for other male singer/songwriters to wear their hearts on their sleeves in the modern era.

Babylon is nice but I don’t think there is anything new to find here

It's outrageous that this is the all time best selling album in Ireland. I am outraged. I'd be like yeah ok whatever if it was U2. David Gray never even lived in Ireland. What the hell you guys It makes sense that Babylon was a hit, and I can see Please Forgive Me as a hit in that era of pop too. I think both are basically ok (though I once hated Babylon), and both suffer from being mixed for that era of radio pop. After the first two tracks it's forgettable. I thought my review was going to be that you only need to listen to one version of Damien Rice, and he's nothing to put on an essentials list either. This doesn't match up with that in a way that's neutral (more electro pop influence), and a way that's terrible (doesn't even try to be gripping). music: hated. (⌐■_■)

It’s a 1.5 that I would normally round up. I’m rounding down because the last album I had was the Hendrix debut and in human spirit alone, it wouldn’t be fair to say this is within 3 stars of that. There aren’t enough stars in the world to bridge that gap.

Just reminds me of being a kid in the late 90s

First track - not bad, Scrubs! Rest of it - boring as sin.

First time hearing this - I'm not from the UK so I've never heard of David Gray before today. The music is inoffensive and a bit boring. It really does sound like a soundtrack to a sad scene placed somewhere in the middle of a romcom movie (maybe a slow motion reminiscing scene or a sad male lead looking through the window to the rain juxtaposed with the female lead laying on the couch with a blanket and a phone). The most interesting part of it is how it includes bits of folktronica, which was interesting and I guess kinda innovative. I feel like if it hadn't been made in the UK, no one would have cared today. Instead, we have all those sentimental reviews how it reminds people of their childhood without any mention of the actual qualities of this album. There's so many better albums that were not included on the list instead. 2/5 (This Years Love is so annoying it made me want to lower it down to 1/5). Actually having listened the entire thing, I got really annoyed with the last three songs. 1/5

The album we played when having friends around for late evening drinks. A bit bland but associated with some good memories.

This Year's Love is one of the best songs from the album. Also, I enjoyed his singing and loved the album.

The singles off White Ladder are good but I think lifted by the nostalgia of living through them being ubiquitous in the charts, film and television, basically anywhere. When we had Moby's album a little while ago it was kinda the same, this shit was EVERYWHERE and it ends up inextricably linked with our memories. This Year's Love is legit good, Please Forgive Me is nice too, but I don't think it's really outstanding singer-songwriting, and I know I'm making this comparison a) because their names are similar and b) Scrubs used both of their work but I always think of Colin Hay when I hear David Gray, and Colin Hay is just a lot better at this sort of introspective stripped-back acoustic stuff. This is very much a middling piece of work, a high 2 or low 3 effort.

Is this the best dinner party soundtrack in history? Definitely in the conversation. I really like his voice, the songwriting is nice, if a little gentle, and the arrangements work well. 3/5, lacks enough spark to make it a 4 but that's why it's such good background music - memorable without you ever really noticing it.

Part of that alt rock/folk rock movement that took place around the early 00's. Apparently dude released this album in 98 on his own record label and it did nothing. Then in 00 is was re-released by Dave Matthews label and it exploded. It spent 176 weeks on the charts, making it one of the longest charting albums in UK chart history. Babylon is a fantastic song. Favourite songs: Babylon, This Year's Love, Nightblindness, Please Forgive Me Least favourite songs: White Ladder 4/5

I kinda liked this, but I don't think it's something you absolutely must listen. It's fairly regular 90's singer-songwriter stuff. Some good songs, some uninteresting ones. I have no ideia how big it was in its day, but certainly doesn't seem very relevant now. Key tracks: Babylon This Year's Love

This was better than I thought it would be. It had some interesting and well put together songs. A good listen. On the 3 side of 3.5.

90s easy listening adult radio bullshit.

I bought this album at a used CD store in my youth and it still slaps.

Lovely album, cohesive, none stood out to me as ones I loved, but all were pleasant

razoavel

Some very nostalgic hits. Hard to give this album a real review when this sound has been copied by so many artists.

Once again I must ask, why do I have to hear this album before I die? 2 stars.

Started out decent but dragged a lot in the second half

Pretty decent, not my first choice.

No por qué la gente disfrute por tres semanas seguidas un disco aburrido significa que es bueno. La gente no siempre tiene la razón y eso es algo que el autor de esta maldita lista no entiende; cada disco comercialmente exitoso de Inglaterra aparece acá, cuando hay ocasiones en que no tienen ninguna relevancia para el panorama musical general y definitivamente no son un "esencial que hay que escuchar antes de morir". Sigo encontrando increíble que trabajos como este se prioricen y se dejen fuera LPs tan importantes para la música alternativa (que muchas veces es aclamada por la crítica) como Modest Mouse se dejen afuera. "White Ladder" es prueba fehaciente de que el gusto inglés no siempre equivale a "un buen disco". Sálteselo, o si no se quedará dormido. PD: Muchos comparan en los comentarios a este LP con algunos trabajos de Coldplay. Debo admitir que me sentí algo ofendido porque ni los peores discos de la banda de Martin son tan malos como "White Ladder".

My first reaction to seeing this album come up was anger. I had to force myself to listen to it and in listening to it, I examined just what it was that makes me hate this album so much. White Ladder isn't a one star album, sure it's bland as fuck, but the music itself didn't actively annoy me in the way some others have. I think the thing that angers me most about this album is just how popular it was. It's success damaged my faith in humanity a little. Now, considering I'm writing this on the day Donald Trump was re-elected, my faith in humanity has already taken a pretty big hit, but I can at least mitigate that by pretending that Americans are stupider than us civilised Europeans. Unfortunately, this album being so successful in my native UK shows that people here are in many ways just as horrifically idiotic as they are in the US. At least David Gray isn't a proven rapist I suppose. Two stars.

Artiste inconnu. Certains morceaux ont des harmonies vocales intéressantes, et l'accompagnement est plutôt varié, avec parfois (trop rarement) des petits chorus. Mais rien de vraiment remarquable, je ne l'écouterais pas une seconde fois. =>2/5

I think it's an interesting sign of where we are musically in popular music that a record like this with a lot of electronic drums, keyboards, bass can just end up sending quite natural to the ears. It's better electronics and software, and also artists trying to make organic sounding music with the electronic tools we have. This wasn't what I expected, but I liked it. I particularly liked the cover of "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye". It's really emotional and brings out what an excellent song it is. I really enjoyed the Soft Cell original because it had a strange tinge of isolation, regret and a sense of moving on... it certainly sums up the way someone would feel about the ending of a relationship that in some ways was good, but in other ways was not at all good... kind of the new wave "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" I guess. I was going to give this three stars but the cover makes it a four for me.

This really is a late 90s masterpiece

not bad

I've listened to enough of this. Could be described as both radio friendly or coffee table music, but in both instances the word bland must also be applied as a prefix. I don't like his nasal whiney voice either. I know it sold bucket loads but there's clearly no accounting for taste. Definitely not an album you ever need to listen to and if you do it will be instantly forgettable. Has no place on this lis

Other than 'Babylon', I wasn't familiar with anything on this album. Overall, kind of a slow listen. Not terrible, but not great either - decent background music. I don't know that I would listen again.

Like this one! 4/5

You may have heard David Gray before but forgotten. It's definitely not for me. Who likes this? I bet you relax a lot and smile at strangers. He sounds like Ben Harper took some sedatives. I'm gonna go listen to something good. One dull star. Like an imploded dwarf that has consumed all of it's fuel and no longer emits light in the visible wavelength. It's up there in the night sky, but you will never know. That's the star I give David Gray.

Feels very generic. It kinda fades into the background. It would go well in a soap opera show where the main character just broke up with their partner and they're driving along the coastline, sad but cheery, hopefule for the future. The camera pans to the sunset, the screen goes dark, David Gray's voice fades out. Hallmark makes a few dozen million dollars. 3/5.

It's ok. There are some nice, brain dead pop moments that are catchy, but it also has this extremely grating sound to it sometimes. It's a very dated late 90s, early 2000s house type of sound that I just hate. So it really balances out. It's also very, very clear that this must've had something to do with the direction of pop 5-15 years down the road.

I've definitely come across "Babylon" at some point, with no prior knowledge of David Gray the artist then. Nice to get some more context for what ended up being his biggest hit here. This album sounds a few years ahead of its time, as I think that this emergence of "folktronica" was fairly new then. Basically add in some electronic & hip-hop rhythms to the already present acoustic sound. After listening, I can definitely see how this album would've inspired some of the singer-songwriter folk & soft rock acts of the early 2000s. It's comfy, but situational for sure. It was fun revisiting "Babylon", but the rest of the album didn't really reach out to me in that kind of way.

This was an ok album, some high and low points.

# 349 : Slow & dull, Average at best.

"VH1-core" "music for people that don't really care for music" At it's most exciting I'd give it "The Business Casual Smashing Pumpkins." In that this is a genre that a weirdly large amount of people enjoy, I think this belongs on a "must hear" list. However, I don't know what this does to expand anyone's interest or knowledge in music. There's nothing original happening. Everything about it is washed out and drained of personality. It feels like being told "calm down" in that attempting to force calmness just causes more anxiety. The music is so calm/boring that it makes me panic a bit in a way that I've rarely felt since childhood. The most infuriating part of that is tracks often open with or have brief clips of actually interesting music before it suddenly cuts out to generic 1-week of playing experience acoustic guitar riffs and a guy singing, whom you can tell actually wants to do spoken word, but that doesn't put food on the table so he's doing whatever this is. He has a nice voice, but similar to the music, it feels like a digitized hybrid of Bob Dylan and Billy Corgan that's been washed out and auto-tuned to the point that it feels inhuman and robotic. There's barely melody here. It's kind of background noise on background noise. If this is your genre, this is probably phenomenal. Is it good music though? It feels like it's barely music to me. It went through the motions, but it didn't try anything whatsoever. It kept the beat, it hit those strings, and it made the mouth noises, but nothing else. There's nothing to grab onto. It is a polished, grey ("Gray" lol) stone lacking any interesting feature. A monotone painting that's just a canvas covered in one color simply because the artist liked that color, no deeper meaning. I'm trying to talk myself into giving this a 2/5, but there's literally nothing positive I can come up with to describe in it. Tried my best to be objective, but it was very difficult to make it through the whole album. This is in my short list of "music that kind of makes me hate music a little bit." 1/5

White Ladder Say hello to Ireland’s best selling album of all time. Say hello to 2001, say hello to Bridget Jones’s Diary, say hello your mum’s CD collection, say hello to Sven Goran Eriksson, say hello to Foot and Mouth, say hello to a 2nd term for Tony, say hello to the coughing major, say hello Al Qaeda, say hello to Popstars, say hello to Phil’s shooter, say hello to David Brent, wave goodbye to Richard Madely and Judy Finnegan, wave goodbye to The Premiership at 7pm, wave goodbye to any credibility if you liked this album, wave goodbye to its time to share or to shaft, wave goodbye to Live and Kicking, wave goodbye to Harry Secombe…wave goodbye to George 🥺 I don’t think this really deserves the amount of opprobrium it gets. It's by no means a great album of course, but it’s a perfectly serviceable folkish pop album with some very early 2000s electronic touches. I remember having it on CD and quite liking it at the time, but the problem is its ubiquity, and it's frankly insane commercial success. And of course there’s nothing like the massive popularity of something so middle of the road to rile up the snob in a 22 year old me. And looking back at it now, while he is certainly at a superior level, it’s clear that this album opened the door for the James Blunts, Ed Sheerans and Lewis Capaldis of the world. It’s not David Gray’s fault he birthed them of course, but that soggy legacy of sad boy self-absorbed performative sensitivity does remain and does hover over the album today. At the core of it though, while there are good songs on here, there’s no doubt that in many places it feels rather insipid, partly to do with the production, you can definitely tell that he made it in his flat. While not sounding totally terrible it does have some not particularly charming wonkiness in places and has quite a thin sound, contributing to that rather insipid lack of oomph. Also songs often have the habit of feeling like they are building up to something, before flatlining somewhat. Babylon is a good example, it's a good song, with a nice hook and nice melody, but it really feels like it needs a climax or crescendo, some sense of resolution or release, but instead it just stays on one level. Lyrically he’s capable of some nice lines and sentiments, Babylon does have some good imagery, but he’s also guilty of rather prosaic and generic turns of phrase, often in the same song - ‘sail away with me, what will be, will be’ etc. It’s probably telling that the best lyric on the album is the cover of Say Hello, Wave Goodbye. The strongest songs are the bigger singles - Please Forgive Me, This Year’s Love and Babylon are all perfectly well constructed catchy bits of middle of the road folk-ish pop music. My Oh My, White Ladder and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye are decent too, and despite the lack of dynamism I wouldn’t say any of the songs are terrible - the whole thing is just a fine, if slightly snoozy listen. Taking that into account a 3 feels fair. 🪜🪜🪜 Playlist submission: Babylon

Fine

This dude sucks

Boring background music

Surprisingly enjoyable. Added several albums by David Gray to favorites for future listening.

David Gray is but one of many male solo artists who partake in what I like to call "sad white boy music". He is an influential precursor to the likes of James Blunt, Lewis Capaldi, and James Arthur. Guys who seemingly picked up a guitar, weren't particularly interested in doing anything genuinely outstanding with it, and hoping to stumble across an easy melody that radio stations would eat up and play their material for decades to come. Because I can guarantee you, as I write this in work, I will be hearing David Gray on the communal radio at least twice today. I'm so glad we're living in the rise of a trend, and I apologize to my fellow millennials in advance, but 'White Ladder' by David Gray is the very definition of what is now called "co-worker music". It is millennial co-worker music. It is about as pedestrian as this genre of music gets; and every time I have had to hear the many generic hits this album produced throughout my life - 'Please Forgive Me', 'Babylon', 'This Year's Love', and 'Sail Away' - I die a little inside. Sure, they're catchy enough. But there is absolutely nothing groundbreaking or unique about them. I normally list some personal highlights but there was none. I was hoping that maybe the deep cuts on the album would at least have some standout elements but they didn't. The same tired type of crooner lyrics, even less interesting musically than the singles, and after a while Gray's voice tends to hit my ears in a negative way. He's a competent singer, but the whole tone of his voice is just off-putting to me. I can tolerate the odd radio play he seemingly gets on a daily basis, but an entire LP was getting too much. This was teetering between a 1 and a 2 from the second it popped up on the generator. But I'm nice, so it gets a 2. Because while there are many elements I dislike, I won't deny David Gray can write good melodies. But that’s about the only positive I can take away from my listen of ‘White Ladder’ this morning. 2/5

Not very interesting. Pleasant enough.

Has best chill out album ever written all over it. Not much to like really.

In one of the rare instances on this list of the author(s) being like a broken clock, they get it right with this. David Gray is not for everyone, but the time this album came out combined with his masterful lyric writing combines for a perfect storm of greatness. 3.5/5

I remember a couple of these songs. I found this to be a pleasant listen, and I was surprised he did a Soft Cell cover (Say Hello, Wave Goodbye).

First 2 tracks and last 3 are flawless but this accents the dip in the middle. Was one of 3 CDs that I took to university so it will always hold a special place but listening again showed me why I haven't revised the album in 20 years - a lot more low-fi than I remembered.

4.5/5

Kinda bland and depressing, not something I'd return to. Middling 2.

There are some good tracks here, the whole thing is well made, it was nearly a 4, but it definitely overstayed its welcome with some real stinkers at the end. What a bring down.

This one surprised me in a good way—the singles were familiar, even overfamiliar, but the album had a consistent sound and the other songs were pleasantly new to me rather than bland or tiresome. Definitely growing on me.

It’s wonderfully pleasant, but I can’t imagine how it’s possibly influential enough to be included on this list.

Please Forgive Me // Babylon // This Year’s Love // Sail Away // 3.5/5

Weinig aan eigenlijk. Niet slecht ofzo, maar het voegt ook weinig toe aan deze lijst.

Sounds better on CD. This album brings me back. For sure my jam.

Boring. I’m bored

DG got that rizz. This album had slapper after slapper. Really enjoyed this no cap.

Babylon more like babble on

Not very exciting, but a couple of good tunes. Theres a "vibe" here, and its "sad man music". The name David Gray really suits him - a totally middle of the road man, making ordinary music. I am struggling to understand why this album was so popular, I suppose it does have a realness to it. It reminds me of a Sunday afternoon in England, driving back from the pub with my parents where I'd had a coke and a bag of crisps. The sky is grey, its drizzling, its probably April - not that cold but chilly. I've got that "School tomorrow" sunday scaries feeling. I'm staring out the car window and Babylon or Sail Away is playing. That's how I feel about this album. But I might listen to it again to try and give it another shot.

Good

82% Best: Please Forgive Me; Babylon; This Year's Love Must-Hear? Sure

David Gray once hit on my girlfriend in a bar in Manchester in front of me. She laughed in his face and told him to fuck off. When I said did you know who that was? She replied he’s that sad boy singer and he’s a twat. She was right

2.5/10. It just went on and on and on. It really bored me. It's really not my vibe at all. My favourite part of the experience was when I got a Bon Jovi advertisement on Spotify. Sorry.

A somewhat mystifying yet decidedly pleasant combination of middle-of-the-road folk-pop with late ‘90s downtempo electronica. Pretty, earnest, heartfelt, and utterly inoffensive, but otherwise without much more to recommend it.